The present invention relates primarily to a structure for the display and dispensing of game and like tickets. It is fairly conventional to provide dispensers in multiple units so that the units contain and dispense tickets for different games, for example. This gives the customer a choice of games or tickets. Prior stacks, however, required one form or anther of support means; e.g., bracket, etc. It is also known to provide the units or containers of transparent material, such as injection-molded plastic, whereby the tickets are attractively displayed. It is further typical of such dispensers to provide the rear of each unit with a slot or similar means whereby the tickets may be withdrawn manually by the person in charge of the units.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a plurality of similar units capable of being stacked in a self-supporting near vertical array, one atop the unit next below, in a multiple of several units that, in total, assembled aspect, present a striking appearance, as well as containing tickets or equivalent contents of different character, thereby increasing the customer's choice of lotteries. The feature of the invention contributing to the novel self-supporting structure is the configuration of each of several identical box-like units so that each unit has a sloped roof on which the floor of the next higher unit rests whereby the center of gravity of the stack is displaced forwardly and, in a more specific sense, the front faces of successive units tilt or are angled relative to the vertical and whereby the front faces are not coplanar, but rather each face forms a dihedral angle with its neighbor.
A further feature of this configuration is that, as to each unit, the front face or wall meets the floor of that unit at a bottom front corner at an angle of less than ninety degrees and the front wall meets that unit's roof at a top front corner at an angle in excess of ninety degrees. The units are stacked with the bottom front corner of the second higher unit directly above the top front corner of the lowermost or base unit and so on upwardly as the units are stacked. Each unit is fixedly adhered floor-to-roof to its neighbor, except as to the floor of the lowermost unit which may be adhered or otherwise affixed to a supporting surface; e.g., a counter etc. The units are preferably formed by injection molding of a suitable plastic and the diverging roof and floor provide adequate draft incident to the molding operation.
Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the disclosure progresses in connection with the appended drawings.